This invention relates to an improved protective garment to be worn by a person confined to a wheelchair due to illness or disability which prevents normal standing and walking. In some cases the intended wearer may also suffer partial or complete disuse of his upper body and arms due to paralysis or the presence of various immobilizing appliances such as casts or braces. Despite such severe disabilities, it is often necessary or desirable that the afflicted person be outdoors under weather conditions which necessitate an outer garment over the person's normal clothing to keep him comfortably warm.
Outer garments of the type worn by ambulatory persons, conventional overcoats for example, are unsuitable in the case of most persons confined to a wheelchair due to the extreme difficulty and discomfort encountered in putting a sleeved garment over the arms and shoulders and positioning the coat back of the posterior torso and under the legs.
Resorting to the use of blankets or similar body wraps to provide warmth in place of conventional coats or jackets is a common alternative. However, a loose wrap of this type tends to become displaced from the shoulders and upper body unless it is adequately secured by pins, or the like. Moreover, a substantial part of the bulk of the blanket is usually forcibly compressed between the wearer's body and back and sides of the wheelchair thereby causing discomfort due to unevenness in warmth and pressure. Unless a loose wrap placed about a wheelchair occupant is frequently checked by an attendant, chair movement may cause the wrap to be displaced thereby exposing the wearer and possibly permitting the wrap edges to dangle outside the wheelchair in dangerous proximity to the spokes of the chair wheels.
Yet another alternative to a conventional outer garment for those confined to a wheelchair is a well-known poncho. A typical poncho comprises a square or rectangular sheet of fabric having a centrally located opening through which the head protrudes. The material of the poncho surrounds the neck of the wearer and extends radially therefrom draping over the shoulders and downwardly over the arms and the front and back of the torso in a loose tent-like fashion. The downward extent of the draped material, hence the degree of body coverage, is determined by the selected dimensions of the poncho; however, the arms and hands are usually covered and the front and back of the torso are covered to an equal extent due to the central front-to-back location of the head opening.
While it is much easier to dress a disabled person in a poncho than in a conventional topcoat, substantial difficulties remain if that person is unable to rise so that the loosely hanging material of the poncho can be evenly draped about the arms and torso. In the case of a person seated in a wheelchair which has upstanding back and side structures proximate the seated body, the hanging poncho material creates problems which substantially diminish a poncho's utility in this special needs application. Because a poncho constructed of material suitably heavy to provide adequate warmth tends to be quite bulky, a delimma arises as to where to place those superabundant portions of the poncho which normally drape downwardly over the front and back of the torso and over the arms of a wearer. If the poncho is merely placed over the wearer's head and permitted to drape outside the backrest and armrests of the wheelchair, much of the insulating and warming effect of the garment is lost in areas of the body which are not intimately contacted by the poncho material. Furthermore, the poncho, dangling freely in a tent-like manner outside the chair framework, limits visibility of and access to the push handles on the chair backrest and the manual push rims of the wheels. Futhermore, this situation creates an extremely hazardous condition whereby the poncho edges could become entangled in the wheel spokes or be overrun by a wheel causing damage to the poncho or wheelchair or injury to the chair occupant.
An alternative suggested by the obvious problems which arise from placement of the poncho outside the wheel chair entails gathering the material which dangles outside the wheelchair and somehow placing it inside the wheelchair between the seated wearer and the back and sides of the seat framework. Because of the bulk of the gathered material and its tendency to become wadded across the lower back and sides of the wheelchair seat, the resultant discomfort of the wheelchair occupant due to localized pressure and overheating renders this alternative likewise unsuitable.
Should the intended wearer of a conventional poncho be required to wear shoulder restraining straps or similar means to maintain the torso erect against the backrest, the aforementioned limitations of a poncho as a special needs garment are further exacerbated.